It will be a little warmer during events at Greenbank Farm this winter.
The Port of Coupeville recently spent more than $3,700 to repair the heaters in the farm’s Barn A, which is home to numerous events such as the holiday market that is currently underway on the weekends. It is one of two projects to improve the publicly owned facility.

A large ship floating for more than a week near the Coupeville-to-Port Townsend ferry route piqued the curiosity of nearby residents.
It turns out the Wave Venture, a 464-foot vessel owned by United Kingdom-based Global Marine Systems, has been sailing in the area while its crew repair fiber optic cables.

Editor,
Wow, the 204 people who brought their favorite Thanksgiving offering to the community potluck at the Coupeville Recreation Hall certainly put on a feast! Thanks to each and every one of you for adding your special touch to the wonderful meal we all enjoyed together.

The Trust Board of Ebey’s Landing announced the finalists for manager of the 17,500-acre reserve.
The three finalists will be interviewed in January with a decision to be made shortly thereafter, said Lisbeth Cort, interim reserve manager.

Two wins over the weekend helped the Coupeville High School girls basketball team to its best start in three years.
The Wolves won a pair of home games, defeating La Conner 39-25 Friday, Jan. 3, and Orcas Island 50-44 Saturday.

It was a long time coming, but there was no doubt about it once it arrived.
The Coupeville High School boys basketball team needed a win, badly, and when it finally broke through, it did so in dominating fashion. The Wolves destroyed visiting Orcas Island 84-37 Saturday, Jan. 4.

After 17 years, a popular Front Street art gallery is closing its doors.
The Windjammer Gallery, located across the street from Mariners Court, shuttered its doors Friday to make room for a wine shop.
“We’re retiring,” owner Chuck Poust said the day before the closing. “It demands a lot of your time. We were only closed three days out of the year.”

Volunteers examining the future of the Greenbank Farm recommended that the Port of Coupeville explore selling the publicly owned farm. The proposal sparked discussion about the farm’s future, but the port renewed a contract with the farm management group.

Larry and Patsy Vail have a New Year’s resolution: move their Coupeville wine shop and continue with the success they’ve enjoyed for the past two years.
The couple, owns Vail Wine Shop, is moving the shop’s former home in Mariner’s Court across the street into the the former home of the Windjammer Gallery, which closed in late December after 17 years in business.
“I’m expecting it to go well,” Patsy said of the new location.

For the past year, Town of Coupeville officials have been exploring options in dealing with staffing issues within the marshal’s office.
Mayor Nancy Conard said the issue began a little more than a year ago with a sudden turnover within the department.
The town is looking at two options, to keep its department with changes to staffing, or to contract with the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

Early in the morning on Dec. 20, I drove through falling snow to bake at our restaurant, the Knead & Feed, on Front Street. Less than an hour after arriving at work, the Town of Coupeville snow plow was carefully plowing our street and others.

Thank you to the town employees who decorated Cook’s Corner Park and Coupeville Recreation Hall.
It’s a beautiful job and admired by many.
We also have enjoyed seeing all of the snow people decorating our streets. Thanks to the person who started this tradition and to the helpers who have re-painted when needed and placed them around town.
The snow people are very unique.

This is the time of year when we pray for peace and goodwill on earth, and resolve to do better in the future. We need some of that peace and goodwill to wash ashore on the rock right about now.
It’s been a tough year for peace and goodwill on Whidbey Island. We rock dwellers, usually so blissful and content, have become stranded at the intersection of Jets = Jobs and Jets = Deafness, hung up by the nexus of Tourists = Dollars and Tourists = Crowding, tangled in the Gordian knot of taxed too much versus not enough services.

When I was a kid, Jimmy Carter was in the White House. His wife, Rosalynn, was quite an active First Lady. She sat in on official meetings held by her husband and was said to be one of his closest advisors.
Many First Ladies have used their position to promote a cause. One of the things that most interested Rosalynn Carter was mental health research and treatment. She has remained active in promoting those areas since leaving the White House.
So it was fitting when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently addressed the Rosalynn Carter Symposium on mental health policy in Atlanta. Sebelius announced new federal rules that will beef up the 2008 mental health equity law.